It’s hard to do direct comparisons when most of this isn’t public information, the job requirements are so different, and inflation plays such a big role in these comparisons. A dollar is nominally worth 1/2 what it was in 1995, but if you’re looking at housing etc the difference is much larger.

My understanding is adjusted for inflation the minimally skilled developer was actually better off on the mid to late 90’s. The median developer was in a roughly similar situation. The elite’s pay was comparable, but today we have a larger percentage of people in that elite category.

PS: IBM isn’t Silicon Valley. Many developers today are still making sub 120k, but that’s really not what we’re talking about.